Leaving
by Erin of the Wood
Summary: Naruto walked out of Konoha, out of his past and out of the life he would have had and he didn’t plan on coming back. I want feedback on this, I have writers block and I need help with the next part of the story. Future sasunaru. rating will go up.
1. Disclamer

!!!!!DISCLAMER!!!!!!


	2. Leaving

The day was warm and the forest shone as the fading sunlight filtered through the greenery. A group of masked nin landed silently just outside of Konoha village, perching quietly in the branches of a tree like three exotic birds. One man, wearing a decorative mask depicting the grinning face of a fox, pulled a scroll from his pouch and signaled to the others, 'go home, rest, Ill take care of this.' The two nin nodded and the next moment they were gone.

Naruto grinned behind the mask as he walked down the hall, Tsunade-baa san had begun to anticipate his window entrances so he would surprise her by taking the more well-traveled rout. He twisted the mask to the side, reveling bright blue eyes and characteristic whisker marks as he reached for the door but his hand paused before pushing it open.

"-a lost cause." It was Tsunade talking. "As you all know, we simply cant waist our resources or our people on rounding up a single missing nin that is the job of the hunters." Naruto held his breath, who were they planning to send the hunter nin after?

"I'm sure we all understand but we need to take into account the situation," a new speaker, was that Jiraya? "Have you ever known the boy to break his word to anyone, and I do mean anyone?"

"That's right," Kakashi now? "Do you remember the time he swore to eat at Ichiraku's for an entire year, he ran out of money and went hungry for a week." They must be talking about him now but why, the blond's eyebrows scrunched together and he leaned closer to the wooden door involuntarily.

"We have discussed this in detail and I will not discuss it further with any of you." Tsunade again. "We need to get back to the task at hand, how will we divide up the Uchiha land?" The door had swung open as the Hokage said these last words, pushed by her attendant, who droped an entire tray of teacups, alerting everyone to his presence and allowing Naruto a perfect vantage point of the entire room and its guilty occupants.

Tsunade would never forget the look on the boy's face, she had come to think him very close to her and it hurt, his eyes begged her to deny everything he had just heard. There was complete silence for almost two minuets and then Naruto's eyes hardened.

"Fine." He said it very quietly in a strained voice he loosened his grip on the scroll.

"Naru-" she didn't have time even to flinch as the scroll whizzed by her face and buried itself deep in the wall beside her head. Naruto was gone.

* * *

No one saw the blond that night or the next morning, Tsunade and many of Naruto's friends were afraid that the blond had already left and the village was put on high alert for any sine of the boy. It wasn't until late that evening that Naruto was seen calmly walking through the not quite deserted streets, people- civilians and fellow ninja alike- moving out of his way. One of them must have informed the Hokage because she met Naruto at the gate. He walked right past her.

"Naruto!" Her voice was hard although he could hear the underlying desperation. The boy stopped but did not turn. He was still wearing the ANBU uniform, mask tied to his pack. "Naruto, don't do this. Don't leave; you will be throwing away everything you have ever worked so hard to achieve." He didn't move. Tsunade figured she must be getting somewhere with him so she turned to face his back. "If you leave, I won't be able to help you, you won't ever be welcome here again and nothing I say will be able to change that." The desperation was thick in her throat now and she was not bothering to hide it.

"Is that why you gave up on Sasuke? Because you don't think you could change his fate? It would just be easier to label him a missing nin and let someone else kill him? So you don't have to deal with it and you don't have it hanging over your head?" He had half turned, not really looking back at all. When he didn't get an answer Naruto started walking again. If he had looked back he would have seen the tears slip down the Hokage's face but he didn't turn and he didn't see.

Naruto walked out of Konoha, out of his past and out of the life he would have had and he didn't plan on coming back. They could 'distribute' the Uzumaki property just as easily as the Uchiha.


	3. Alone

Naruto traveled for the rest of the night, he knew that the council would not be happy to find that the Kyubi had left and would most likely send people to kill him. He had no doubt that his friends would come looking for him as well, they had all been through a lot together. Naruto had left a note in his apartment, leaving some of his most precious things for his friends. To Sakura he had left his and Sasuke's hetai-ait, Choji had his entire stock of instant ramen, and so on. He hoped that the apology in the letter would be enough for his hard won friends but deep in his heart he knew it would not be.

The full magnitude of what he had done did not hit until after he had set up camp and started to boil water for his meal. The blond laughed nervously to no one as he realized his hands had begun to shake. He flung to bag he had been searching through to the ground and buried his face in his hands, Naruto's whole body was shaking now and he drew in a choked breath before letting out a yell that reverberated through the woods. The single anguished sound held all of his thoughts and emotions, the blond had managed to throw away his one chance to realize his dream of becoming Hokage in the time span of mere moments, all the friends he had worked so hard to get, every ounce of respect he had managed to wrestle from the prejudice of the villagers. It was all gone and he was alone once more. The fire slowly died but went unnoticed by Naruto as his overwrought mind finally took control and forced him into the realm of sleep.

Naruto slept late into the next day but woke to find himself covered in a blanket and the smell of ramen in the air. '_who?_' His body was sluggish in its responses, he felt leaden and sore after last night. He opened his eyes and sat up, rubbing at his face.

"I'm glad your awake." He turned his head sharply, giving himself a crick in the neck, and found that his pink haired team mate was crouched over the small rekindled campfire.

"Sakura chan!?" He had expected them to look for him but he had hoped that he would not be found so soon or in such a sorry condition. She turned and handed him a cup of beef flavored ramen, her face was very serious. "Ahh, thank you Sakura chan!" He put a huge grin on his face as his stomach protested its lack of dinner the previous night. They ate in silence; the only sounds were Naruto and Sakura slurping at their breakfast. Once he was done with his second cup Naruto cast a hungry eye at his pack but decided to stop there, he settled in and waited for his friend to say something.

"Naruto." She started and stopped, trying to find the right words. "Naruto…I know how you feel, no actually I don't but I know why you are going. Kakashi sensei told us." She was quiet, maybe waiting for Naruto to say something but when he didn't she kept going. "Anyway, umm, we all - I mean your friends…this isn't coming out right." She said and just handed him a letter. "We all have a copy of that letter. I was just lucky to be the one to find you first." Naruto read the letter once, and then again. He never expected this.

"Thank you Sakura chan." The blond spoke in a whisper, not trusting his emotions enough to anything louder. He wrapped his arms around her as she pulled him close.

"We won't try and stop you. We want Sasuke back too but if you ever need any help don't hesitate to ask, you can get word to us through Garra, Tenmari has been coming and going whenever she wants for a while now so it wont look suspicious." She paused before finishing her thought, tightening her hold round his shoulders. "Remember, we do want Sasuke but if we lost you as well I don't think we would ever be the same so you better not get yourself killed." Naruto laughed through his tears.

"I'll try not to Sakura chan." She pulled away and wiped her own eyes.

"I'm glad I found you first, I wanted to give you this." The pink haired girl pulled out a small brown wrapped package and presented it to Naruto. It's the very last bit of that healing ointment I made. I know you probably don't need it but I want you to have it anyway."

"Thank you Sakura, this means a lot, tell everyone 'thanks' for me." Sakura helped Naruto pack and break camp, they said one final farewell before they both turned and walked in opposite directions. Naruto felt much better then he had the night before, his friends were still there for him, he wasn't alone at all.

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AN: feedback is nice, and I still want your opinion on what to do with future chapters. I want to thank my two revewers, wstphl and Dark Toy. so yeah, thanks!


	4. Meeting

For the first week or so Naruto wandered aimlessly but started following rumors and bits of whispered conversations he had heard that sounded uncomfortably like Orochimaru. Naruto was beginning to get frustrated, maybe he was misunderstanding the rumors and they weren't about Orochimaru at all, he hadn't seen the basterd snake or any of his goons any where.

The Kyubi warned him that he was being followed, this was the third time this week and Naruto was getting tired of it. He sat down and pulled out some traveling rations while he waited for his guest.

"What are you doing here little fox?" Fuck, well he just had to have luck like this.

"Looking for your brother." The blond replied, outwardly calm. He had been training a lot since his last encounter with Itachi but he wasn't sure he was up to the elder Uchiha's level.

"I haven't come to kill you today, strictly off the record, but I was hoping you could explain this." Naruto winced as the older Uchiha held the booklet open to the page displaying his own face. It was a hunter nin's booklet, Itachi must have killed someone to get that. Naruto started to reach for it before deciding he liked all of his extremities where they were and simply shrugging. What was there to say? Trying to find a way to change the subject Naruto said the first thing that came to mind.

"Did you know that the Uchiha clan no longer exists?" Mentally he smashed his head against a wall, Itachi just raised an eyebrow. Why had he said that, come to think of it, why was he here talking civilly with his rivals worst enemy and brother? Why was he trusting the man who had been trying to kill him since before he even knew what he was?

Because he wanted to tell someone, to share the knowledge and pain that it brought him to be so betrayed. It had been too long since he had had a full conversation with anyone who even remotely understood his position. "I'm looking for Sasuke." He said quietly. "I left 

because I heard them talking about calling off the rescue mission. They were only humoring me." He grit his teeth as Itachi threw the book at his feet.

"You are foolish, he knew as well as I what leaving the village would mean." Itachi scoffed at him. Naruto jumped to his feet, eyes flashing.

"Well excuse me for not wanting to never see him again." He could feel the Kyubi growling at the other man as well.

"Don't be stupid boy." He hissed mockingly at Naruto. "If you release the Kyubi here you will have the entire Akatsuki on you within minuets." The blond made a visible attempt to bring his rage under control. It was made very difficult as Itachi continued to speak. "My brother has always been weak, he has made poor decisions in his past and he has turned himself into a pitiful shadow of what he could be, and you are foolish to try so hard for such a waste of humanity."

"He is worth a thousand of you." Naruto gritted out, hands and teeth clenched. "I will find him and we will kill Orochimaru and then if he still thinks your worth it, we will find you and I will help him destroy you." The Kyubi was wrestles, pacing back and forth in its cage.

There was a rustling in the bushes to his right but Naruto didn't flinch as the fish-faced Kisame entered the clearing. If Itachi had wanted he could have used his (evil eye) jutsu at that very moment because Naruto was glaring strait into his the eyes.

"We are being called." the other man said barely sparing a glance to the blond. Itachi returned his glare for a moment longer before dragging his eyes away from Naruto but couldn't resist a parting shot.

"Next time I see your pathetic face I wont hesitate to kill you." Then he followed Kisame out of the clearing. Naruto sat down heavily pouting for a moment before jumping to his feet 

again and shoving his forgotten lunch back into his bag. He hesitated for a moment and then added the hinter nin's booklet as well. He would find Sasuke but he had to do so soon. Itachi's words had worried him, it almost sounded as though he knew something about his brothers current location, was angry that Naruto would bother to look for something everyone else already knew was gone.

The blond once again took to the trees and followed the path that Kisame and Itachi had taken, perhaps they knew something he did not. He followed at a safe distance and listened to the Kyubi if and when it told him to change his immediate course. He presently found himself on the edge of a clearing where he could see a circle of ninja in the akatsuki robes. One of them was talking but Naruto was still to far away to hear him clearly. As he inched closer a twig snapped and he froze but none seemed to hear and the blond allowed himself to relax again before listening closer to the topic of conversation.

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Hi people, sorry I abandoned you all for so long T-T. I am hoping to get my act together and actually continue this story…angst ridden as it is (who cares angst makes a good read) please stick with me, I really enjoyed the few reviews I have gotten so please either tell me to shut up or keep going(but be nice about it). This chap was supposed to be longer but I had this laying around and decided to put it up for you.

much luvz,

of the Wood

ps, its kinda crapy and over a year old XP


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